Residents of Forest Colony in Dimapur collected 92.31 kg of dry waste during a community “Waste Hunt” organised by environmental NGO Living For Environment (LiFE) on March 12, 2026. The early-morning event began at 6:30 am, when local volunteers-armed with gloves and sacks-fanned out across lanes, corners and open spaces to remove litter and inorganic waste from the neighbourhood.
LiFE promoted the activity as a mix of cleanup and competition, asking participants to “collect the most dry waste and collect a prize.” The organisation’s Instagram post asked, “Who says waste can’t be fun?” and described the campaign as part adventure, part community drive to make waste management engaging.
The exercise was designed to build shared responsibility through a competitive format. “The initiative was designed to foster a sense of shared responsibility and community spirit through an engaging, competitive cleanup format,” said Niksungla, Founder-Chairman of LiFE, who spoke to The Morung Express. She said LiFE has been working with Forest Colony since April 2025 under its Sustainable Environment Action for Green Forest Colony (SEAGFC) project to pilot community-driven waste interventions.
Five teams took part in Thursday’s challenge. The collection was supervised and formally weighed by the LiFE team; together the teams diverted 92.31 kg of waste from the environment. Team ‘Brothers’ finished first, registering 29.485 kg of collected material.
Despite the turnout and the total collected, organisers found the amount of litter exceeded what a single session could clear. “Despite the competitive incentive, the sheer volume of litter proved too great for a single session to clear,” Niksungla said, noting that one event is only a step toward sustained cleanliness.
Asked about future events in other colonies, she said it would depend on community response and cautioned against relying on incentives as a long-term strategy. She emphasised the need for local ownership and ongoing action, quoting, “It has to start with us and we need to act now.”
LiFE said the material collected will be stored at a designated location and addressed when the NGO’s next project phase is implemented. The Waste Hunt highlighted both the community’s willingness to act and the deeper challenge of changing littering behaviour through sustained waste-management efforts.
Original Source: https://www.morungexpress.com/nagaland-forest-colony-cleans-up-with-lifes-waste-hunt
Category: Nagaland
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Publish Date: 2026-03-12 20:25:00
